


The Loudest Silence

by potentiallyAWKWARD



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 22:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9463175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiallyAWKWARD/pseuds/potentiallyAWKWARD
Summary: AU where the war takes place two years after the Trio graduated from Hogwarts.





	

Severus let out a small, shuddering breath as he lay his cheek to Hermione's head. The fine curls tickled his nose as he folded his arms around her, pulling her in.

"I'm afraid," he admitted quietly, eyes closed as if the world could only exist when he looked upon it. Perhaps it did. He was surprisingly calm, considering the fact he was going to his near-certain death. A war where neither side fully wanted him.

Hermione shifted, small, warm hands gripping his back. "I know. I am too." He could hear her quiet, steady breathing. If he listened hard enough, perhaps he could hear her heartbeat as well. Unlikely, even though the adrenaline was pumping through their veins like a freight engine.

From behind them somewhere was a loud crash. Most likely a wall or pillar had been hit by a spell and fallen. A scream and footsteps coming closer and closer. "Avada Kedavera!" someone bellowed (Yaxley?) followed by a sickeningly familiar thud as a body hit the marble floor.

"God," Hermione said. It wasn't a prayer or an expletive or a question, just a numb word fallen out of her mouth like it held no meaning and was just a series of sounds.

"We need to go, it's not safe here," he breathed, swallowing around the lump in his throat. Why couldn't the war have been five years ago, or ten, before he had ever met Hermione Granger and fell in love with her and found a reason to live?

"I'm scared," Hermione echoed his words from before, voice cracking as (most likely, he couldn't actually see) a tear or two leaked out of her tear ducts and down her cheeks.

"You'll be fine, you're one of the good guys. Good guys always win," Severus replied without much conviction, smiling rather forcedly as he pressed a kiss to her head. "I love you."

As he pulled away from Hermione, the lump in his throat grew. She was looking at him with such adoration and love in her chestnut eyes that he could barely maintain the eye contact. He hoped that the same sentiment was expressed in his gaze as well, although he was never very good when it came to emotions.

"Severus, there's something I should tell you-" Hermione started, but before she could finish a bright green beam struck the pillar they stood beside and they both dove.

Cursing, Severus picked several shards of glass out of his palms. "Alright?"

From the other side of the narrow room, Hermione nodded, wincing as she stood. She rubbed her hip tenderly before casting him a grin. "Just a bruise I think, not even a bad one. You're bleeding-!"

Hermione started over to Severus but was blocked by another spark, this one red. "I'm fine, just run!" Severus managed to spit out, taking the few strides to the now non-existent door, stepping through the rubble of plaster as he wiped his bloody hands on his robes. Merely flesh wounds, he'd heal them properly when things calmed down a bit.

The world outside their happy little bubble existed only in shades of grey and brown, save the brightly colored sparks being emitted by wands from both sides. Someone dashed by him, shoulder bumping his roughly. His wand was out in a millisecond, deflecting a curse aimed straight at him.

"Severus," someone hissed from nearby.

He looked around quickly, trying to assess which role was needed. It was Lucius Malfoy- immediately a small sneer formed on Severus' mouth and he stood a little straighter. He strode over to the blonde man, willing his expression into submission. Now was not the time to give up the game.

"Everyone is here except Parkinson. The Dark Lord is preparing to make his final move, but his instructions were to kill anyone who wasn't Harry Potter," Lucius reported, knuckles going white around his ornate wand. "We are also to keep a lookout for the boy and immediately summon the Dark Lord should we find him."

Severus nodded curtly, stomach knotting. He hoped that Hermione had the sense to distance herself from Harry Potter, but he always knew she was more the emotional type rather than rational when it came to her friends.

Without another word, Lucius swept away, firing a curse at a seventh year boy who had stayed to help the war effort. The boy dove behind a pillar, barely missing the curse. Despite himself and the situation, Severus allowed himself a small smile. Despite their instructions, Lucius had not shot a killing curse at the boy after all.

~~~

It took nearly three hours for the fighting to come to a standstill. Both sides regrouped, tending to their injuries and counting their losses. Despite his role as Death Eater, Severus couldn't help but go immediately to the Great Hall to find Hermione. If the Dark Lord asked, he could say he was trying to piece together the Order's plan of attack.

Severus halted as he stepped through the doors to the Great Hall, eyes roaming around the room. The four House tables were nowhere to be seen; instead, dozens and dozens of cots were lined up with the injured and dead, only a few empty beds in the room.

He felt his heart stop for several seconds before it started again, quicker than before. Hermione was clever, she couldn't have gotten herself-? No, it was best not to think like that.

Once he had gotten his bearings, he had only taken two steps before he was stopped by Ginny Weasley, tears streaming down her face. Severus felt the room spin before she even opened her mouth.

"It's Hermione. She- she's dead. She was going to tell you, but she couldn't find the right time-" Ginny started, voice breaking as her face screwed up in misery and grief. "Oh, God. Y'know, I never really liked you, but you made her happy. She told me only a few days ago- she's pregnant."

The world was full of static, suddenly too loud and too silent, too bright for his eyes. Someone let out a sound rather like a wounded animal, and it wasn't until later that he realized it was him. Severus felt his knees hit the marble floor, jarring him. Oh, God. Hermione- she couldn't be gone. She promised- it didn't work like that- she was meant to live-

Pregnant. With his child. He would have been overjoyed to hear that in any other situation. But now it didn't matter, she was dead and the world has lost its color and his only reason for living on was gone and it always happened like this and it was how his life went, wasn't it?

He felt a warm, small hand at his elbow pulling him up. The only reason he allowed it was that it was so like Hermione's hand, Hermione's touch, he could hear her laughter, of course she wasn't dead-

But when he opened his eyes, he saw her laying motionless on a cot, pale and lifeless. Severus wondered if she would still be warm to the touch. Without warning, Severus bent over and was sick, only just keeping himself from falling over. Jesus.

"It was Bellatrix Lestrange, killing curse straight to the chest," Ginny choked out, new wave of tears taking over.

"I'll kill her. I'll kill that bitch," Severus grit out, feeling the tears dripdripdrip down his cheeks and nose, into the creases of his lips and down his neck. He wasn't sure if he was about to be sick again or just scream, so instead he stood. Without a backward glance. Out the Great Hall, down the steps, out into the night, past the lake and into the forest. He only had to stop once when sobs shook his body so badly he couldn't walk without stumbling.

As he walked into the clearing, the entire world went into fast motion- his wand whipped out, aimed directly at Bellatrix as soon as he spotted her.

Bellatrix cackled upon seeing Severus. "Oh, you found out, did you? You didn't actually have feelings for that Mudblood, did you?"

Severus wasn't in the mood. Not in the mood to fight or to scream. With an incredibly steady voice, he replied, "Avada Kedavera."

The look of glee froze on her face as she fell limply to the forest floor, and immediately several dozen wands were out and pointed at him.

Severus Snape wasn't sure whose curse it was that killed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Hermione gets killed in the war. Maybe she is pregnant?


End file.
